“It would be so nice if something made sense for a change.” Alice, Alice in Wonderland

Someone researching and investigating these crimes filed a FOIA request on July 31, 2012, for the FBI’s files on the OCCK case, including the information provided by witness Doug Wilson. Here’s what David P. Sobonya, Public Information Officer/Legal Admin. Specialist, Record/Information Dissemination Service, FBI Records Management Division, had to say on January 17, 2013, in response to a request for an update on the FOIA request:

A copy of the email has been forwarded to the analyst’s supervisor. The request is considered small (Up to 500 pages) with an estimated 144 pages and modifying it at this time would not adjust the processing. There are also a number of requests in the analyst’s queue that will be process first because of the date that they were received. The current median processing time for small requests is 154 days. If the request is still being reviewed and the processing time expired then the new estimated date of completion is 6 more months and so forth until completion.

He then further advised today, February 6, 2013, that “[t]he assigned analyst supervisor advised that the estimated date of completion is July 31, 2013.” Yes, you read that right–a year to the day the FOIA request was made. I guess that will teach you not to ask for an update now won’t it!

So we know someone got as far as pulling an estimated 144 pages. Even more disturbing than the fact that the FBI takes a year to respond to a “small” FOIA request is the fact that their involvement in this case yielded only 144 pages. Apparently it will take another five months for some desk jockey to redact 99% of every page. They better include the two reports that Special Agent Mort Nickel worked on concerning the bumper impressions in the snow bank where Kristine’s body was left. We know you worked on the case, Mort. Hopefully the FBI has better document retention procedures than the Michigan State Police. With a big, long title like the one that follows Mr. Sobonya’s name, I would certainly think so.

Better fire up the paper shredder on that Fox Island file, which will be the subject of the next FOIA request. Or maybe that file was destroyed in the flood that destroyed the FBI records concerning Christopher Busch.